“Hot off the presses,” said Skyline College’s journalism professor Nancy Kaplan-Biegel, in making an announcement on the first day of the current semester. “It’s official. We now offer students the opportunity to obtain an associate degree in journalism, or, alternatively, a certificate in journalism.”

Both programs are offered through the language arts division and are designed to target a variety of students’ needs. For example, re-entry students, or people who may already have degrees, may simply want to transition into another career.

“There are a wide variety of needs out there and the goal is to provide students with more flexibility and a greater number of options,” Kaplan-Biegel said.

While a combined total of 22 core and required units are needed for the certificate accreditation, the A.A. degree entails a larger number of core and required units, as it covers a broader area of study.

This revival of sorts for journalism at Skyline follows a hiatus of more than 15 years since the previous journalism department flourished at the college. Its rebirth was embraced by Kaplan-Biegel, who willingly nurtured its metamorphosis.

With her bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in English, Kaplan-Biegel was initially hired to teach English at Skyline. When she was asked to teach a newswriting class in 1999, Kaplan-Biegel realized that “it hardly made sense to do so without an actual live publication up and running, because that’s where the real hands on experience lies, the ultimate goal being to get students published.”

Two weeks later, Kaplan-Biegel and her students set out and produced what was to be the first publication in years from the Skyline newsroom.

That semester, two newsletter publications of The Skyline View were published, followed by six the next. From then and to date, it has become a regular, newsprint publication, running strong at eight issues per semester.

With expanding numbers in the newsroom staff, and increasing growth in numbers of students enrolling in journalism, Kaplan-Biegel’s contributions to the department have broadened the variety of accreditations already offered by the college.

For aspiring writers, the field of journalism differs from other careers.

“What you actually do is more important than the degree, and good writers can go pretty far,” Kaplan-Biegel said. As of spring 2005, “students now have swifter ways of getting that official paper acknowledgement of having a journalism background.”

She definitely encourages people to “get that four-year degree so that there’s no glass ceiling,” however.

As journalism is part of the language arts division, equally excited about the new endeavor is the division dean, Anita Martinez.

“Journalism students can develop unique communications skills that will transfer to many occupations,” she said. “With such an important emphasis placed on communications skills, in business and public relations agencies, it is important to get specific training.”

Martinez, acknowledged the distinct role of Kaplan-Biegel for reinvigorating the journalism program at Skyline.

“It was a rigorous job, and her terrific energy did this.”

These programs provide students with the opportunity to be published or get hands-on journalistic training and experience.

“This too is a way of giving well-deserved credit to devoted and committed journalism students,” Kaplan-Biegel said.

The degree or certificate application deadline for graduation this spring is March 4.